Holding means for curtains.



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CHARLES L. ,HOPKINS OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CUR- TAINSUPPLY COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION or NEW JERsEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 14, 1905.

Application filed August 19, 1904. Serial 110.221,41.

To @ZZ III/tom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. HOPKINS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Holding Means forCurtains, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of curtain-holdingdevices which are adapted to be used in connection with aspring-actuated curtain or shade to guide the lower end of the curtainin vertical adjustment and to hold the` curtain at desired elevationsagainst the upward tendency of the spring-actuated roller.

The object of the present invention 'is to provide a device of thisclass which will securely hold the curtain against upward movement,which will maintain the lower margin of the curtain level, and which maybe adjusted to positions of various heights in the Window-frame.

In my present improvement I provide a curtain with a curtain-stickhaving aspring-actuated head, said head having separated contactportions thereon, and upon the casing and preferably in the bottom ofthe guidegroove I provide an opposing contact member whose surface hasalternate projections and depressions, the distance between the centersof the joining depressions being preferably equal to the distancebetween the contacts on the head, whereby when the contacts of the headrest within the depressions the inclined surfaces above such contactsafford sufficient resistance to overcome the upward' pull of thecurtain-roller spring and serve thereby to hold the curtain in adjustedposition. l

In the drawing accompanying this specification is shown a face view of aportion of a window-frame having fitted therein a curtain and apreferred form of my improved curtainholding means.

In the drawing, 1() indicates the side posts of a window-frame. Carriedin a pocket 13 in the lower portion of the curtain A is the tubularstick 14. At each end of the stick is a resilient head 16', having,preferably, integral therewith rounded contact-surfaces 20, the samebeing conveniently formed by bending the ends of the head intosubstantially circular form. Each of these heads 16 moves along a grooveor guideway 17, extending vertically along the side post 10 of thewindow-frame as the curtain is raised or lowered. Secured to the bottomof each of the grooves 17 is a strip 19 of wood or other suitablematerial, upon which the contact-surfaces 20a bear as the heads 16 movealong the grooves. These strips 19 are formed Vwith a waving orundulatory surface formed by alternating projections and depressions,the distance between the centers of adjoining depressions beingpractically the same as the distance between the upper and lowercontact-surfaces of the head. The contact-surfaces 2Oa will seek theoutermost or lowest points between adjacent projections, and since todraw the same up over the inclined surfaces and over the adjoiningprojections will require more force than to hold the curtain stationaryif the-device be left to itself the result is that the curtain willremain stationary and at such points as it comes to rest at. By graspingthe curtain at its lower edgeP and moving the same up or down it may bereadily adjusted to various heights, the contact-surfaces moving overthe summits of the projections without difliculty. It will thus be seenthat the spring-head 16 being secured intermediate its ends to the endof the stick of a sliding extension thereof will be alternately extendedand contacted as the device moves along the guideway in the window-frameand the curtain will tend to remain stationary at the determinatepoints-that is, when the contacts are in the depressed surfaces.

I have shown herein a form of construction in which the irregularsurfaces over which the contacts move and which cause the latter to bemoved toward the stick at determinate points consist of strips ofsuitable material secured within the grooves, and While this is a simpleand convenient method of securing the desired result it is of coursewithin the scope of the invention to use any form of construction whichprovides a bearing-surface along which the contacts move and arethereby, at determinate points along the windowframe, moved inwardlyagainst the tendency ofthe spring-heads.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. In a curtain-holding device, the combination with a stick, of anelongated spring at IOO the end of the stick having curved ends, and astationary guide having alternate depressions and projections with whichthe curved ends engage.

2. In a curtain-holding device` the combination With a stick, of anelongated springhead having curvedcontaoting parts at its opposite ends,and a stationary guide having alternate depressions and projections withwhich the curved parts Contact.

CHARLES L. HOPKINS. Witnesses:

FREDERICK C. GOODWIN, J ENNIE NoRBY.

